Following Boston bombings, "there's nothing else in the world I would rather do now" than go into medicine

The CommonHealth blog drew my attention today to the story of a group of students who jumped into action after the Boston Marathon bombings. As one of the pre-med students explains in the Times Higher Educationpiece, the incident – as horrific as it was – solidified her decision to go into medicine:

Near the marathon’s finish line, 50 Boston University pre-med undergraduates had been volunteering in the medical tent, filling out record forms and carrying supplies, when the bombs went off.

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Some of the Boston University volunteers worked to clear the aisles as the floor of the tent ran red with blood. They saw the wounded, including children, arrive with missing limbs, and physicians fashion tourniquets from belts and shirts. One was ordered to set up a morgue.

“There was nothing in a classroom that could have prepared us for this,” [Yeon Woo Lee] said. “Some of the students in my group were barely 18. People stayed calm. Nobody panicked. It was scary, but I’m glad that I was there to help out and very proud.”

The experience for her and the others, she said, was horrifying and inspiring. “It was a terrible, terrible, terrible week with a lot of pain and suffering, but at the same time there’s nothing else in the world I would rather do now than go into the field that I chose to dedicate my life to,” Ms Lee added.